


North Star

by LostCauses (Anteros)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, M/M, canonverse, eruri - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 05:50:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12336720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anteros/pseuds/LostCauses
Summary: It was Erwin who had first named the stars, all those years ago on the roof of the old Survey Corps headquarters where Levi had fled to escape waking dreams of green-eyed ghosts and bloodied corpses.  Night after night Erwin mapped the heavens and named the stars. None of it made any sense to Levi, but the names of the stars kept the ghosts at bay.





	North Star

It was Erwin who had first named the stars, all those years ago on the rooftop of the old Survey Corps headquarters where Levi had fled to escape waking dreams of green-eyed ghosts and bloodied corpses. The ghosts followed him out into the night but at least it was easier to breathe up there, even if every freezing breath made his bones feel like they would shake apart. And that’s where Erwin had found him, staring out into the darkness with blank unseeing eyes.

“That’s Sirius.”

“Huh?”

Levi turned his head. Erwin was standing behind him, pointing up into the night sky.

“Sirius, the Dog Star.”

Levi followed the line of his finger to the pinprick of light.

“You’re shivering.”

It wasn’t a question, but before Levi could answer, a too-large jacket was draped over his shoulders. It was warm and smelled faintly of saddle soap, sweat and cologne. Levi shrugged, but he couldn’t help burrowing into the warmth and the scent, as Erwin sat down at the far end of the parapet.

“Why’s it called that?”

“I don’t rightly know.” Erwin laughed softly in the darkness, a warm human sound that made something in Levi’s chest ache.

The following night it was the hunter.

“His name’s Orion. See? There’s his belt and his sword.”

“What the fuck? That doesn’t look anything like a sword.”

The next night again it was the water carrier.

“Aquarius. I think that’s supposed to be the outline of a water jar, and that’s the water pouring out.” 

Erwin was squinting into the darkness, brows creased together. He didn’t sound convinced.

“Yeah right…” Levi muttered. He’d stopped shivering. 

“That’s Pisces!” Erwin pointed excitedly one night. “The fishes. You couldn’t see it last month.”

“Why not?”

“The stars move. They rotate around the sky throughout the year.”

“How do you know all this shit anyway?”

The silence stretched into the darkness and when Erwin spoke again his voice was thick and tight.

“My father taught me.”

Night after night Erwin mapped the heavens and named the stars. None of it made any sense to Levi, but the names of the stars kept the ghosts at bay.

“That’s the plough,” he said one night, pointing to the west. 

Levi didn’t know what a plough was, but it didn’t matter because Erwin’s arm was pressed against his shoulder and he could feel the warmth of his breath on his cheek.

“Looks more like a pan to me.”

“A pan?”

Levi could hear the smile in his voice.

“Yeah, there’s the handle, see?”

Levi pointed, tracing the outline of a saucepan in the sky

“Oh yes, you’re right!”

One night Erwin pointed directly overhead.

“See that one?”

“Which one?” Levi tilted his head back, until it rested against Erwin’s shoulder.

“That one. The bright one.”

Levi nodded.

“That’s Polaris, the North Star or the Pole Star. Some people call it the guiding star.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because it never moves.”

“You said all the stars moved.”

“Not that one. That one is always in the North. If you ever get lost or…” Erwin stopped suddenly.

“Or what?” Levi angled his head to look up at his face. Erwin was frowning, his eyes dark in the starlight. 

“If something happens, if you every get left behind…outside the walls. That star will guide you home.”

“Home?” The word was foreign in Levi’s mouth.

“Well, back here at any rate.” 

Erwin’s arm tightened around Levi’s shoulders, drawing him closer in the darkness.

“No shit.”

And it was true. Levi always made it back. He followed his guiding star and he always made it home. Until the day his North Star was snuffed out and Levi found himself alone, lost and directionless in a world with no compass. 

One night, when the aching emptiness grew too much to bear, he went back to the old headquarters, scaled the walls and climbed onto the roof. Polaris hung bright and steady overhead as Levi sat in the darkness and traced patterns in the sky, calling back his ghosts with the names of the stars.


End file.
